


Pandemic: The Playlist

by eldritcher



Series: Pandemic [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Music, Playlist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29586945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eldritcher/pseuds/eldritcher
Summary: A compilation of the music through the Pandemic stories: the Classical, Jazz, R&B, and Rock segments.
Series: Pandemic [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137872
Kudos: 8





	Pandemic: The Playlist

**Author's Note:**

> I annotated the songs with my writing notes.
> 
> If you want to jump ahead to the playlist, it's [on youtube in sorted order](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj5cqW0Q3IYEsrWEiDijO1vRCw1NqXhTx). I recommend reading through the notes first.

**Classical**

[Holst's Planets - Uranus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDFGmiXnLjU)

> This is the Harry theme I used when writing. He surprises others. Things that happen to him surprise everyone. Even his fate lines have vanished from his palms. Firenze no longer sees Harry's path in the stars.
> 
> Harry's arrival at Swanage and the ripples it brings to Voldemort's life is associated with Surprise and Unpredictability. This leitmotif recurs many times through their interactions, where Voldemort cannot predict Harry's words or actions.

[Gustav Mahler's Titan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c1RDalpXuA&t=1522s)

> This is the leitmotif that recurs through the stories to signal the sacrifices Narcissa makes and the consequences. The last section is our music of the hawthorn. 

[Holst's Planets - Saturn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO5sB56rfzA)

> The leitmotif of Saturn is used to signal Voldemort's obsessions and impulsive follies over time, to preserve his lover, to prevent an inevitable outcome, as seen through Abraxas's eyes.
> 
> As an aside, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are used in Almagest as themes for Harry, Voldemort, and Dumbledore.

* * *

**Jazz**

[The Bounce of the Sugar Plum Fairy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QinhBmJTJ5g)

> The Dumbledore theme I used throughout. It is my favourite interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
> 
> This is from Kirby's Jazz interpretations of classical music. The Dumbledore suite, as I liked to call it.
> 
> Dumbledore's creativity in problem-solving and quirky uniqueness matched the work of Kirby's Jazz Sextet.

[Twentieth Century Closet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd1SuCMqJhw)

> Dumbledore staying in the closet, concealing even from his brother the ongoing sex with no benefits with Grindelwald.
> 
> Also a tongue-in-cheek reference to Dumbledore burning down closets in orphanages (Ha, take that, you little thieving gremlin!)
> 
> I used this to capture Dumbledore's headspace when he meets Tom Riddle for the first time.

[One Alone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxUEwWk37I)

> Grindelwald has dumped Dumbledore. The Castle is trying to kill Armando so that She can have Dumbledore as her Headmaster instead.
> 
> Minerva is alone and trying to make friends. Tom Riddle has unrequited hots for Abraxas Malfoy.
> 
> They are all alone now.

[Arabian Nightmare](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1eMi0zDf-Y)

> Dumbledore's nightmare comes true, when Tom Riddle tries out his luck as a savior. Tom's obsession with Abraxas leads to a life-bond (trope activate!). This will become Tom's nightmare in the years to come, and get him nuked in Godric's Hollow in the end.
> 
> As a side note, I like this jazz interpretation of Scheherazade.

[Rehearsin' for a Nervous Breakdown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ReK7fLlq-A)

> The Castle is upset with Dumbledore for barring Tom Riddle entry. Tom Riddle is wasting his life in a pawnshop because he doesn't want to leave Abraxas.
> 
> Minerva is in an Auror training programme to stay with Alastor. Dumbledore and Tom Riddle negotiate their Castle pass.

[Mr. Haydn Gets Hep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VQusYanx8Y)

> Narcissa kills her father in self-defence. Voldemort brings an orphan home to Abraxas, who sighs and puts up with it. Minerva has left the Auror programme and is now happy at Hogwarts.They are all forced to face the fact that Voldemort's sanity is fraying.

[Rustle of Spring](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r750RX_QS8)

> Minerva breaks up with Alastor and is better off for it. Severus Snape, freshly come to teenage, starts carrying a torch for Minerva. Narcissa and Dumbledore are worried about Voldemort's sanity.
> 
> As an aside, this is a lovely jazz interpretation of Fruhlingsrauschen.

[Roseroom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfVWJpJHMlg)

> Narcissa heals the accidental horcrux in Harry's scar, sacrificing her magic. I used flower motifs for Narcissa, throughout. The Roseroom emphasizes her coming of age. She is not only ruling her destiny, but also shaping others'. 

[Charlie's Prelude](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAxJ9di0ffU)

> The Delphini theme! This sets the stage for the post-1996 era, where relationships are solidified. I used this to emphasize how the next arc of the story is hers. Harry goes to Aberdeen alone. Voldemort goes to Swanage alone. I found it apt to show how their loneliness begins at the end of their war.

[Beethoven Riffs On](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WN68Tsdd38)

> I used this to emphasize the continuity of life after the Wall. Dumbledore runs into Voldemort in Bonn. Harry struggles with loneliness, but he won't settle for anyone less than the **One**. Firenze tells Dumbledore that Harry's fate is no longer charted in the stars.

[Blue Fantasy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ys7lcWilfE)

> This emphasizes Harry's blues starting to manifest an Obscurus from the volatile mix of magic and emotions. This is the music I used for Harry's silent emotional agony that adds up slowly over the years.

[Milumba](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpbjbyI82_4)

> I used this to color a Golden Age (pre-2019), that is coming crashing down (The Fall of Rome style) as the Coronavirus begins to spread. In tandem, it also mirrors the local drama that Dumbledore and Snape are worried about as Harry's Obscurus strengthens.

[Whirlaway](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9uQBAzdUMw)

> Dumbledore is worried about the Obscurus, while Delphini is worried about the Coronavirus. This is the clash between a parasite and a virus. Ha! I am very fond of this one. Things are in motion and not going to end well. I also used this to emphasize the commonalities between Dumbledore and Delphini.

* * *

**R &B**

[Love Potion No. 9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt7htnE1s4o)

> The Abraxas/Riddle leitmotif recurring through the stories. I used it to emphasize how much Voldemort hates being a child of a love-potion. In the end, he saves Abraxas with a potion, and ends up setting himself on that collision course to 1981. Delphini is born of a potion. So this seemed a nice framing of the irony of his life.

[Pennies from Heaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OLl6W2xVXE)

> I used this to emphasize the loneliness of life and what our different characters settle for. Voldemort settles for Abraxas and a bond of slavery. Dumbledore settles for a Castle and a bond of slavery.

[The Honeydripper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq_Bwgm5kvw)

> Porn music! Nothing to be said. This is used when Abraxas makes his lover drip all over the place. What can I say?

* * *

**Rock**

[Hold the Line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htgr3pvBr-I)

> When you are lonely for decades, while all around you have found home and heart, what do you do? You hold the line, because love isn't always on time.
> 
> This recurring motif is used to capture Minerva's long wait, Harry's long wait, and Dumbledore's long wait for love. It is also used to capture Voldemort trying to hold the line on his sanity for Delphini's sake. And finally, I used this to capture Narcissa's patience to win her war.

[The Spy Who Loved Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-c8aAntWA)

> I used this for Severus's love for Minerva, from the 1980s to the the end of the 1990s. It is a James Bond theme. I love James Bond, because I am tasteless like that.

[Seas of Cheese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX7dHqPRFys)

> This theme, and the altrock album it comes from was my goto for the Severus parts. I used this sprinkled throughout the stories.

[Diamonds are Forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFSAWiTJsjc)

> I used this for the Narcissa-Severus conversations. Another James Bond theme. I felt it suited their dynamic. 

[Home of the Blues](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmIvIOjVtJs)

> I used this for Narcissa's childhood, and to start framing her dynamic with Voldemort. It is for a child trying to find her place in the world. Later on, I used it as a recurring leitmotif to describe the Black Family Blues.

[Little Red Rooster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-nT_joqmeM)

> I used this to paint the Abraxas/Voldemort dynamic through Narcissa's eyes, and to establish how through a child's eyes, they are married.

[Mr. Soul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyc0JSd5q7U)

> This is the mix of Narcissa's puberty's unsettling experiences. She realizes that she does not want sex or romantic love. She realizes that Voldemort's sanity is unravelling. It is a collection of loss of innocence moments. 

[The house of the rising sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fy7opKu46c)

> Voldemort's insanity worsens. Abraxas is dying. They are both paying for their old decisions. The rising sun is Narcissa's, as she resolves to keep their home as a sanctuary for Voldemort. This is used multiple times through Narcissa's story.

[Use it up and wear it out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTMbFvkSpSs)

> Porn music. Great for Severus Snape, James Bond for hire. 

[Heart of Gold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3IA6pIVank)

> I used this several times through the stories as Abraxas's theme. His is the heart of gold that Voldemort tore up his soul for. Abraxas, in these stories, is the ideal of love that Severus, Dumbledore, Harry, Minerva, Narcissa all wish was present in their lives to lift their loneliness. Voldemort had Abraxas, and it leads him to self-destruction. 

[A horse with no name](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSAJ0l4OBHM)

> The Narcissa theme! This is Narcissa's long journey to victory, through the desert, through the rain. That makes Voldemort the horse with no name. Let us run with it. 

[Under Pressure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I)

> This is the theme of Narcissa's lonely years from 1981 to 1991, when she is fighting to give Voldemort a peaceful ending. She is hopeful, even when Lucius, Dumbledore, and Minerva have no hope left. 

[The Heart's Filthy Lesson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nNF9aQ_BhE)

> This is the motif I used for a set of circumstances where Narcissa and Voldemort are teaching each other how love is a bitter and grieving thing. I also used it for some of the Minerva-Alastor relationship progression. 

[There he is, at my door](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DydIed7ID8k)

> Narcissa's music when she has finally managed to get Voldemort back. It is also Voldemort coming to her to place himself under her protection. It is no longer her at his door. Their dynamic has flipped, and I found this an excellent way to frame the change. 

[The Ballad of the Thin Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we37yX3zpKA)

> Voldemort acknowledges his insanity. He leaves the war in Narcissa's hands. This also ties in with the House of the Rising Sun theme of New Orleans that we circle around. 

[All the madmen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrlvgARHdzc)

> Narcissa and Voldemort reach another pivotal point. He doesn't want his agency back because he is afraid that his sanity will slip again, but he trusts Narcissa's judgement over his own and returns to running his own life. 

[Young Girl Sunday Blues](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPgBwSkXvfY)

> I used this to capture how Delphini is healing both Narcissa and Bellatrix. Their war is over. Delphini is their victory. It is also showing how Delphini is replacing Andromeda in Narcissa's psyche. Andromeda was the sister that abandoned her and is a subject that Narcissa suppresses.

[Stay Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u44jORNkM3g)

> This is used as the leitmotif throughout for Ron's and Hermione's concern for Harry. 
> 
> I used this to signal the arrival of the Coronavirus in public awareness. The General, of course, is Delphini, leading the Pandemic Response. Narcissa and Voldemort cannot fight this war for her. This is their prayer for her. I also used it to signal how Voldemort has come to openly accepting what Narcissa means to him. 

[Living in a Ghost Town](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNNPNweSbp8)

> I used this to signal the oppression and the alienation of the pandemic restrictions, as experienced by Harry and Delphini. 2020 was supposed to be their year. Putting aside their depression, they start the pandemic response. This is also used to signal Hermione's worsening mental health due to the lockdown, Rose's and Hugo's depression, etc. 

[Straight to hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oZqKtuvDx4)

> I used this to show how Harry's and Delphini's depression is worsening as the governments refuse to listen to their advice due to economic and electoral politics. The death tolls start building up. The virus starts affecting people they know. 

[Breaking the law](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXtPycm5dGc)

> This is tongue-in-cheek to show politicians or the ruling classes break the laws of the pandemic. 

[Ordinary Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBF78tA443A)

> I used this to indicate how Harry and Voldemort are slowly coming to see the ordinariness they crave for the remnant of their lives. On a global level, this mirrors how people have become tired of the pandemic and merely want to be ordinary again. This mirrors the Saturn leitmotif Voldemort carries through the stories. 

[I will survive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYkACVDFmeg)

> This is Harry trying to keep going on, despite how his loneliness is eating him inside out. 

[To Sirius](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4SvG4UrL0)

> I used this as the Sirius leitmotif in both Harry's and Narcissa's introspection about him. 

[cardigan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLSUp53y-HQ)

> This one was my leitmotif for Delphini's loss of innocence and coming of age. It is also used to define how she starts incorporating her relationships as she becomes a woman. This mirrors the Roseroom for Narcissa. While the defining relationship Narcissa has during her coming of age is her dynamic with Voldemort, in Delphini's case it is her dynamic with Harry. 

[Rain on me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ygYt8Nkz8)

> I used this as Delphini's mirror to Narcissa's A horse with no name. Delphini's dynamic with Harry starts mirroring Narcissa's dynamic with Voldemort, as they bring their horses home from the rain, from the desert. 

[No son of mine ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gnvQWwwoTg)

> This one was my coda for Narcissa's story in how it ties neatly to Delphini's. Delphini, Bellatrix, and Narcissa, have shown that daughters are beloved. Cygnus Black hated that he had no sons. In time's turn, Voldemort's affection for Narcissa and Harry's affection for Delphini become their respective saving grace. 

[She is a rainbow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c1BThu95d8)

> Rolling stones, again, for Delphini finally embracing her father after they are both vaccinated. Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield) was Narcissa's dance music with Voldemort. To show how his relationship with Delphini is different, we bring in hep and colors, and the Stones. The end of the pandemic is colors and relief, as they finally can hug each other after more than a year. 

[Achy, Breaky Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQIPdHMpjc)

> This one I used as Harry's music when he pays visits to the population the Ministry has identified as at-risk for mental health risks, in his capacity as the Minister of Loneliness. It is an easy song to learn to play, and is common enough among beginner guitar players (and we have seen many beginner players during the pandemic!) 

[Still Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI)

> This one I used as countermelody through the final chapters of Pandemic, because of the tragic farce of Harry's life then. Chell and GLaDOS are Harry and his Obscurus. It isn't all bad, because Harry is getting the better of the Obscurus, even if he doesn't realize it. 

[Baba O'riley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX-bVeojLEA)

> The end of the pandemic! This is the celebratory music that Draco plays based on Harry's recommendation during their vaccine after-party. It has left many dreams and ambitions in a wasteland, economically, emotionally, physically. It is over. 

**Author's Note:**

> [Full youtube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj5cqW0Q3IYEsrWEiDijO1vRCw1NqXhTx)


End file.
